Watches are small portable timepieces designed to be carried in the pocket or worn on the wrist. Their development from the sixteenth century onwards depended on the invention of the coiled mainspring, which allowed a clock mechanism to be made small enough to carry about the person.
The earliest watches were thick, decorative objects made in German and French centres, with limited accuracy. The addition of the balance spring in the 1670s transformed timekeeping, and through the eighteenth century London became a leading centre of fine watchmaking, alongside Paris and Geneva. Pocket watches in silver and gold cases, often protected by hunter or half-hunter covers, were standard through the Victorian period, and mass production in Switzerland and America made them widely affordable. The wristwatch gained acceptance during and after the First World War and largely replaced the pocket watch in the twentieth century. Collectors consider the maker, movement quality, case material and hallmarks, dial condition and originality. Complications, early dates, fine enamel decoration and notable makers attract the most interest, while service history and working order are important practical considerations.
